THC, no, not that kind. Taylor-Hobson-Cooke

Larry H-L said:
I am only familiar with what I have, an ELC coated LTM mount, f-stops. The coating is blue and has held up well. I would think that t-stop lenses were made for movie cameras?
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T-stops were on the early Fotons, then both T and F and then, finally, F. T-stops are apparently better but too confusing for still camera folks. Regardless the lens is reputed to be quite good. The tones are very attractive to me and the shading also. But I like the lens. I guess you do, too, as you have had it a while. I do think the ELC coating is desirable. Hopefully I am right.
 
boojum said:
OK, the lens on eBay is listed as "Taylor Hobson 2/2 Inch Amotal Cooke for Leica L mount w. coupling f. RF-" If this is "L Mount" then it is M42 if I understand this correctly and the eBay L to M adapter will work. I have queried the seller about the lens condition, dust, mold, fungus, scratches, and how well the focus and iris rings work. I will press him on the mount when I get a response. I really would like to have a good working Amotal.
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Not sure why you're confused. M42 is definitely not L Mount, which usually refers to LTM (Leica Thread Mount), & has no relation to Leica M Mount.
 
boojum said:
There are folks here who know this Amotal lens so I am asking your help. The early Foton Amotals were coated, ELC. The "ELC" is engraved on the front of the lens. I assume the coated is better than the uncoated which follow. And the early Foton Amotals had "T" stops rather than "F." On these two factors I would assume an ELC with T stops would be best, followed by the T and F, followed by the F so long as they are coated (ELC). And an M39 is going to be easier to live with than an M42 as it is a simpler one piece package. These factors are on an "all things being equal" basis. Dust, mold, fungus, scratches and so on will change the picture. No pun intended. OK, a little bit intended. LOL

Please point out any errors.
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AFAIK, all of the Foton Amotals had ELC inscribed to note that they were coated, & the front of the lenses weren't changed when they were converted to LTM or M42, so that tells you nothing. However, as described in the photo.net thread (which I participated in & remember), when they were converted to LTM or M42, the t-stops on the aperture ring were changed to f-stops because the Foton was the only still camera system that used t-stops.
 
boojum said:
These lenses are confusing, at least confusing to me. The Amotal is "Anastigmat" and there is also a THC "Anastigmat" that is not an Amotal. Can anyone tell me the connection if there is one?
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Both lenses were made by the same company, which just dropped a "Taylor" from its name sometime after 1948, i.e., Taylor, Taylor & Hobson = Taylor-Hobson. As I already posted above, the lens formulas/designs are probably similar, as they're both Anastigmats, but not identical. I have both & in the real world can't tell the difference between shots taken w/either.
 
furcafe said:
Both lenses were made by the same company, which just dropped a "Taylor" from its name sometime after 1948, i.e., Taylor, Taylor & Hobson = Taylor-Hobson. As I already posted above, the lens formulas/designs are probably similar, as they're both Anastigmats, but not identical. I have both & in the real world can't tell the difference between shots taken w/either.
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I am going to take this to mean that they are both stellar.

I am eager to get mine. I will use it some and possibly send it to @reddotrepair for a CLA. Jadon has done good work for me in the past. My current shop quoted 9 weeks to CLA a J8! Yikes! To quote George Burns, "At my age I don't buy green bananas." Nines weeks for a CLA?! Anyway, I am thrilled to finally get an Amotal, will try it alongside the very nice Canon 50mm LTM f/1.8 and am eager to try it on the Pixii if it can ever find its way from France to my door. I am hoping for a happy marriage even though the Amotal will be an effective 75mm. Let's see, eh.
 
xxxTAL means Taylor Anastigmat Lens.

There are also Seritals and Ivotals and probably others as well. These are the older style of c mount cine lens. The 3 or 4 glasses used were superceded in later cine lenses by THC, so not xxxTAL.
 
Patrick M P Donnelly said:
xxxTAL means Taylor Anastigmat Lens.

There are also Seritals and Ivotals and probably others as well. These are the older style of c mount cine lens. The 3 or 4 glasses used were superceded in later cine lenses by THC, so not xxxTAL.
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Thank you for that info. I got my Amotal yesterday. I burned up some pixels with it.

Everybody's squeeze is the prettiest, their child the cutest, their boat the best and so on. But this lens seems to my addled brain to have a little magic to it. I am not an objective observer and am primed to believe this. I do love this lens. Have I ever told you about my dog and how smart he is? ;o)
 
helenhill said:
THC Glass sounds yummy
so does the other THC
but Legal pot today at those corner stores has no THC, what's the point, oh yes Holistic health, giggles

Glass and Herb sound more Fun
than this Present day 'woke' World
trying to make us all conform to a particular 'way' of Thinking...

perhaps this post should be under 'Conundrum' mentor forum
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The Amotal was not cheap. Best bang for the buck is still a good J8. But this Amotal is just so damned sweet and I found a seller with a really nice one here in the US. Three day delivery. Not instant gratification but close enough. It is a beautifully made lens, real precision and quality construction. These folks knew what they were doing. And I have taken less than 100 pics with it so far. Today is sunshine here so I will make a quick stop at Costco and then cruise looking for images.

Were I back in Gotham I'd be at Yonah Shimmel's for a handmade knish with a "nice glass tea" and then cruise the Lower East Side. If Lam Kee is still on the dark side of Chatham Square I'd have dinner there and a camera full of what lay between Shimmel and Lam Kee. "The name's so nice they say it twice."

As for "woke" and so on, let's face it, social and group pressure are as old as humanity. We still do get to pick the team we play on. I think we have become a nation of whiners, yentas and schnorrers. What happened to the rebel without a cause? LMAO on coastal Oregon.
 
I am slowly converting my technique to raw files, DNG in this case. I do them in Darktable on the Linux Mint platform and export them as JPG or J2K. As this board will not accept a J2K (12 bit) here is an 8 bit JPG rework in Darktable of the Rhodies, before and after. I am coming to believe that OOC is not always good enough. The first is an OOC JPG reduced to a proper size in GIMP. The second is a Darktable tweak and export reduced in size in GIMP.


Click image for larger version Name: Amotal 01.JPG Views: 0 Size: 372.2 KB ID: 4785977

Click image for larger version Name: Amotal 07a.jpg Views: 0 Size: 333.9 KB ID: 4785978​
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dexdog said:
That camera/lens combo sold for 1208 british pounds, or 1518 USD.
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Does not look like the Amotal which is a longer/taller lens. Were they different lenses, does anybody know? They were named differently and had different dimensions so I am guessing they are siblings but not identical siblings.
 
The Lens Collector's Vade Mecum has a paragraph about the lens made for the Reid cameras, which its where the lens in this auction came from. It says that the earliest lenses made for the Reid may have been Amotals, given the overlap in the introduction of the Reid and the Foton in 1947. It further states that a lead designer for Taylor-Hobson, Mr. GH Cook, stated in a lecture in 1949 to the Royal Photographic Society that the lens for the Reid was a slight redesign of the Amotal. So, not a lot of info out there about the lens for the Reid, this is the most that I could find. Not online either, but from a CD.
 
Over £1000 for the 'rough' one.

Dralowid said:
For what it is worth IAOC inscribed on the base of the camera may be Indian Army Ordnance Corps...
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These lenses are always expensive but bearing in mind condition someone must have worked out the engraving on the camera as being rather special. Perhaps my suggestion quoted above was wrong?
 
And then I looked up NI Graham MC

See Here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/harlowirish/3045084851

He held the MC (Military Cross) which was just below the VC, the highest award.


I quote: London Gazette 3rd October 1919.

Lt (A\Capt) Norman Ingerfield Graham, 91st Punjabi's I.A (Egypt)

For marked gallantry and coolness in the attack on Tel Manasif on the evening of the 19th September 1918, in leading his company. He was on the right flank, and it was largely due to his skill and courage in constantly outflanking the enemy that the battalion was able to drive the enemy of the hill by dark.
www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31583/supplements/12293

91st Punjabis were part of 3rd (Lahore) Division. This action was part of the wider battle of Trabsor, itself part of a series of battles that took place on the plains of Meggido, (aka Armageddon).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tabsor_(1918)


I suspect this is what drove the price, not the lens!
 
boojum said:
I am slowly converting my technique to raw files, DNG in this case. I do them in Darktable on the Linux Mint platform and export them as JPG or J2K. As this board will not accept a J2K (12 bit) here is an 8 bit JPG rework in Darktable of the Rhodies, before and after. I am coming to believe that OOC is not always good enough. The first is an OOC JPG reduced to a proper size in GIMP. The second is a Darktable tweak and export reduced in size in GIMP.

. . .
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You've inspired me to whip out my LTM TTH Cooke Amotal. Here are 2 recent photos taken w/mine, both JPGs processed by the camera, then cropped & tweaked on the iPhone using Snapseed & Instagram. The 1st is from the Sony a9 & the 2nd is from the M10.
 

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furcafe said:
You've inspired me to whip out my LTM TTH Cooke Amotal. Here are 2 recent photos taken w/mine, both JPGs processed by the camera, then cropped & tweaked on the iPhone using Snapseed & Instagram. The 1st is from the Sony a9 & the 2nd is from the M10.
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It has a special attraction. It seems to shine (no pun intended) in good light, more than other lenses. As your pic shows it has a special touch in B&W, too.

I like the Amotal on the M9. I have not tried it on the M8.2 or M240. Currently trying it on the Pixii with mixed results. We have been overcast for the last week or so. Maybe tomorrow, mañana, the day assigned for difficult or unpleasant tasks. LOL The Amotal is stellar on the M9. If I ever get my '57 J8 back I want to compare those two and the Canon 50mm LTM f/1.8 which Brian put me wise to and is a sleeper. I think I will remain pleased most with the Amotal. Thank you for the help and advice on it.
 
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